SocialNetworking – The Many Faces of Mike McBridehttp://mikemcbrideonline.com
Blog about Litigation Support, Training, Technology, Travel, Social Media, Careers and any other thing I think of!Fri, 09 Dec 2016 15:37:21 +0000en-UShourly111741796Linked – This Is A Really Bad Idea: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Microsoft Agree To Block ‘Terrorist’ Contenthttp://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/12/linked-really-bad-idea-facebook-twitter-youtube-microsoft-agree-block-terrorist-content/
http://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/12/linked-really-bad-idea-facebook-twitter-youtube-microsoft-agree-block-terrorist-content/#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 15:43:54 +0000http://mikemcbrideonline.com/?p=11470“This sounds as though it’s modeled on similar arrangements around child pornography. Except that there are some major differences between child pornography and “terrorist content.” The first is that child porn is de facto illegal. “Terrorist content” is quite frequently perfectly legal. It’s also much more of a judgment call. And based on this setup, […]

“This sounds as though it’s modeled on similar arrangements around child pornography. Except that there are some major differences between child pornography and “terrorist content.” The first is that child porn is de facto illegal. “Terrorist content” is quite frequently perfectly legal. It’s also much more of a judgment call. And based on this setup, allowing one platform partner to designate certain content as “bad” will almost certainly result in false positive designations that will flow across multiple platforms. That’s dangerous.

As we’ve discussed in the past, when you tell platforms to block “terrorist” content, it will frequently lead to mistakes, like blocking humanitarians documenting war atrocities. That kind of information is not just valuable, but necessary in understanding what’s happening. “

It is becoming very trendy to suggest that these social platforms must “do something” to prevent people from having, in essence, to see information they might not want to see, or they may not want others to see. Whether you are talking about “terrorist” content, hate speech or “fake” news, the question always comes back the same thing. Who decides what is appropriate and what isn’t, and what basis are they using for that decision? Sure, we can maybe find some obvious stuff that we can get agreement on, but eventually there’s going to be disagreement, and then what? How do I get my content put back if it gets marked as any of those things?

Who’s watching to make sure “safe” social networks don’t become completely void of free speech?

It’s been awhile since MailChimp retired their popular, and extremely useful, plugin that gathered up comments, likes, retweets, etc. from Facebook and Twitter and showed them right here on the blog. I continued to use it simply because tbhere is no other plugin that does both and does it so seamlessly. I knew, eventually, I […]

It’s been awhile since MailChimp retired their popular, and extremely useful, plugin that gathered up comments, likes, retweets, etc. from Facebook and Twitter and showed them right here on the blog. I continued to use it simply because tbhere is no other plugin that does both and does it so seamlessly. I knew, eventually, I would have to stop, but I assumed it would be because of a security vulnerability and the inability to patch it. I kept an eye out for any news on that front too.

Turns out, it wasn’t a security vulnerability that is going to force me to go back to using Jetpack to publicize posts and nothing to grab those comments. It simply stopped working last week while I was in Zurich. It wasn’t posting to my social networks any longer and it wasn’t pulling in comments. No sense in keeping it around.

And yeah, isn’t that always the way, if something is going to break on one, or all, of my sites, it’s going to happen while I’m out of the country with limited internet access.

In The Big Sort, Bill Bishop shows how, over the last 30 years, Americans have sorted themselves into like-minded neighborhoods. The same appears to be happening on the web. All the empirical research to date suggests that the reason is not the use of personalization algorithms per se. Algorithms can easily expose us to diverse […]

In The Big Sort, Bill Bishop shows how, over the last 30 years, Americans have sorted themselves into like-minded neighborhoods. The same appears to be happening on the web. All the empirical research to date suggests that the reason is not the use of personalization algorithms per se. Algorithms can easily expose us to diverse perspectives. It is the data being fed to the personalization algorithms and the actions we take as end users. Technology companies like Facebook and Google should do more. But so should you and I.

I have watched with some amusement as people have blamed Facebook for the echo chamber and everything else that has happened in US politics recently, because really, doesn’t Facebook algorithms just feed us what we seem to want?

If you made the choice to use Facebook as your source of news, your news will come from your friends, who probably aren’t a very diverse group of people, because we tend to “friend” people who already think like we do.

You can’t do that and then blame the algorithm for not showing you viewpoints that aren’t represented in your chosen friends.

]]>http://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-blame-echo-chamber-facebook-blame/feed/011447Linked – Fake News: Facebook Helps You Feel Well-Informed, Regardless of Actual Readinghttp://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-fake-news-facebook-helps-feel-well-informed-regardless-actual-reading/
http://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-fake-news-facebook-helps-feel-well-informed-regardless-actual-reading/#respondWed, 16 Nov 2016 15:37:09 +0000http://mikemcbrideonline.com/?p=11421“The biggest weakness of this study is that it was entirely based on self-reporting. Asking Facebook users to report on their use of Facebook tends not to be as accurate as actually measuring a user’s actual use of the service, as people tend to show themselves in the most positive light possible. But what the […]

“The biggest weakness of this study is that it was entirely based on self-reporting. Asking Facebook users to report on their use of Facebook tends not to be as accurate as actually measuring a user’s actual use of the service, as people tend to show themselves in the most positive light possible.

But what the researchers found is disturbing. Even if people don’t bother following and reading the news links presented to them, Facebook users think they are more well-informed than they actually are. This illusion of knowledge is potentially problematic as Facebook is used as a substitute for consumption of actual news.”

I’ve been saying this, as have others, for awhile now. The problem is larger than just fake news websites, it’s that people read a headline, and that’s it. If people actually bothered to click through, it’s usually pretty obvious that the information is fake, sometimes it’s even a parody. But, instead, they read the headline, which tells them something they already agree with, and hit share!

And while the article focuses on pro-Trump websites that are clearly fake, I’ve seen plenty of people share things on both sides of the political spectrum that were clearly not true, but which correlated with their worldview.

We need to stop this. Mostly we need to stop thinking of ourselves as informed and educated when we were too lazy to read an article. That’s how hatred spreads, by thinking your side is the informed one, and the other side is the ignorant one.

]]>http://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-fake-news-facebook-helps-feel-well-informed-regardless-actual-reading/feed/011421Linked – Facebook offers: why they could be too good to be truehttp://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-facebook-offers-good-true/
http://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-facebook-offers-good-true/#commentsWed, 09 Nov 2016 16:18:44 +0000http://mikemcbrideonline.com/?p=11403At first the posts are relatively harmless. Many Facebook users don’t see the issue with liking or sharing a post. After thousands of people catch on to the post, Facebook algorithms automatically identify the content as valuable and popular. The algorithm then floats the scam to the top of millions of newsfeeds around the world. […]

At first the posts are relatively harmless. Many Facebook users don’t see the issue with liking or sharing a post.
After thousands of people catch on to the post, Facebook algorithms automatically identify the content as valuable and popular. The algorithm then floats the scam to the top of millions of newsfeeds around the world.

After these pages have reached thousands of likes, the scammers alter their content to trick people into giving out personal information or coerce them into downloading software by clicking a virus ridden link. These pages are also often sold on the cyber black market so owners can change the entire contents of the page to launch survey scams or other shady activity.

I see so many of these obviously fake offers shared on social media, under the guise of “it doesn’t hurt”, or “Just in case it’s true”. Umm yeah, it does hurt. It’s a scam, and by sharing it, you are perpetuating it, and potentially exposing all of your contacts to something that might just be trying to hack their social media accounts.

Plus, if you’re sharing these kinds of things frequently, how are we supposed to take you seriously when you share something important?

]]>http://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-facebook-offers-good-true/feed/111403Linked – Survey: Reckless Social Media May Get You Firedhttp://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-survey-reckless-social-media-may-get-fired/
http://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-survey-reckless-social-media-may-get-fired/#commentsSat, 05 Nov 2016 16:54:54 +0000http://mikemcbrideonline.com/?p=11283When it comes to employment and social media, the First Amendment does not apply. You can, in fact, get fired for what you write, post, and share online, and it is not a violation of your Constitutional rights. As HubShout’s June 2016 Social Media Conduct Survey found out, most people don’t understand the risks of […]

When it comes to employment and social media, the First Amendment does not apply. You can, in fact, get fired for what you write, post, and share online, and it is not a violation of your Constitutional rights.

As HubShout’s June 2016 Social Media Conduct Survey found out, most people don’t understand the risks of posting their unfiltered thoughts and photos on social media, nor do they quite understand the actual conditions of the First Amendment.

Why don’t people get this? It’s 2016, the risk to employment from your social media posts is old news!

]]>http://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/linked-survey-reckless-social-media-may-get-fired/feed/111283Twitter Ads Get a Bit Too Personalhttp://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/twitter-ads-get-bit-personal/
http://mikemcbrideonline.com/2016/11/twitter-ads-get-bit-personal/#commentsWed, 02 Nov 2016 13:04:11 +0000http://mikemcbrideonline.com/?p=11386This was a weird thing to see on Twitter in a promoted ad the other day. Can I sue for defamation since none of this actually happened to me? 😉 Honestly, I am not a fan of being addressed by name in an online ad for something I have never heard of. Would you be? […]

“Gathering good reading material from around the internet is hard. You can’t trust your friends on Facebook. Twitter is too noisy. And even if you’re a master of RSS, you probably spend too much time sorting through filler. This is where Pocket hopes it can make a difference. For the last nine years, the company—originally […]

“Gathering good reading material from around the internet is hard. You can’t trust your friends on Facebook. Twitter is too noisy. And even if you’re a master of RSS, you probably spend too much time sorting through filler.

This is where Pocket hopes it can make a difference. For the last nine years, the company—originally called Read It Later—has essentially run a glorified bookmark service, letting people save articles into a slick reading view on mobile devices and the web. To date, Pocket’s 25 million registered users have stashed more than 3 billion links for later perusal.

Now, Pocket is turning all those saved stories into recommendations, helping people find reading material regardless of whether they do any bookmarking themselves. The idea is that any article worth saving is inherently more substantial than your average Facebook or Twitter link. Pocket wants to make itself a destination for those stories that dig deeper than the day’s headlines.”

It’s an interesting idea, but I’m a little skeptical of the results. Sure, since Pocket put out recommendations, I’ve dipped in and taken a look. I usually find some interesting things, and I don’t find a lot of junky click-bait articles. Unfortunately, I also haven’t unearthed anything that wasn’t already making the rounds of social media too.

I’m hoping eventually it can provide some stuff that isn’t as obvious, but it’s not a bad start.

For its part, LinkedIn is revamping the feature by giving it added relevance. What this means is your endorsements will be highlighted based on the person viewing your profile. For example, viewers will see endorsements made by mutual connections, colleagues, and people who actually have some experience with that particular skill (like expert gum chewers, for […]

For its part, LinkedIn is revamping the feature by giving it added relevance. What this means is your endorsements will be highlighted based on the person viewing your profile. For example, viewers will see endorsements made by mutual connections, colleagues, and people who actually have some experience with that particular skill (like expert gum chewers, for example). LinkedIn has also improved targeting, allowing it to harness your listed skills to suggest endorsements to the right connections.

It’s about time LinkedIn did something with endorsements. They’ve never really made much sense as they are. We’ll see how much people embrace this going forward, but at least they’re trying something!

“My first goal when I got to New York City? Figure out a way to get an internship at DKNY, of course. And you know what? I did. It was around that time when the anonymous DKNY PR Girl was revealed as Aliza Licht, Senior Vice President of Public Relations at Donna Karan. After we […]

“My first goal when I got to New York City? Figure out a way to get an internship at DKNY, of course. And you know what? I did. It was around that time when the anonymous DKNY PR Girl was revealed as Aliza Licht, Senior Vice President of Public Relations at Donna Karan. After we worked on a fun Twitter project together for the 2012 Olympics, I used our already-established social media relationship and newly exchanged email addresses to let Licht know that I was applying for an internship in her department at DKNY. Long story short, that highly-anticipated internship—which I never would have gone after had it not been for Twitter—led to many more internships in the industry and eventually to my first fashion job here at Harper’s BAZAAR. And that is the power of social media.

I decided to bring things full circle and talk to Licht about being daring on social media. Not the posting a nude selfie kind of daring, but the building your personal brand, networking and taking your career to the next level kind of daring. While my Twitter-inspired move to New York may have been a risk, it’s Licht who redefined not only her own career, but also the role of PR and social media managers as a whole. Since departing from Donna Karan, Licht went on to publish her first book, Leave Your Mark, a guide to landing your dream job and using social media to excel.

I sat down with Licht to talk about how to use social media to your career advantage, the do’s and don’ts of online networking, and even the oft confusing unknown that is LinkedIn.”

There is some good advice, and thoughts, about using social media to promote yourself and make connections that can help your career, as well as some good comments on what to avoid. It’s worth your time to take a few minutes and read through the interview.

What tips do you have for someone who wants to use online networking tools to further their own career?